TrustedReviews' Christmas Wishlist 2011 - Andrew

Nokia’s phones have been derided for
years now. Seen as behind the times in core respects, each successive
flagship phone was like a page of the once market leader’s P45 being
printed out.

However, the Lumia 800 is different. Not only is it
perhaps the most beautiful phone Nokia has ever made, it also represents
a humbler approach for the phone-maker. It’s the creation of a
partnership between Nokia and Microsoft, not something Nokia has been
able to dominate entirely. I'm not convinced it’ll turn Nokia’s fortunes
around, but I want one.

Why? Unlike the best Android phones, it’s not ridiculously huge. 3.7in is enough for my pocket. I
also really like the Microsoft Windows Phone OS. It’s the most
un-Microsoft thing the company has made in years – in that it’s actually
stylish and tasteful, rather than having the air of an Excel spreadsheet.

And, boy, is it slick. It arguably offers even less customisation than the iPhone iOS, but is the first popular
alternative that’s not as bug-ridden as a rubbish tip. Then there’s
that look. The Lumia looks and feels fantastic - somehow it has made
plastic feel higher-end than brushed metal. Nokia may not be back on
top, but it’s not out of the game yet.

If I was to describe a pair of headphones as being fit for a king, these would be they. Made largely
out of metal, they’re rather crown-like, with the weight to match. You
won’t forget that these bad boys are on your bonce.

These
open-backed headphones aren’t ones to don while you’re out about town,
though – not only will everyone around you be able to hear you listen to
Xmas Classix 2004, you’ll look ridiculous too. The design is enjoyably
retro, but will not win you respect among the Beats-loving masses.

Find yourself a quiet room, a decent music source and a nice glass of wine to enjoy them with, though,
and the PS1000 headphones will send you to heaven. They’re one of the
few pairs of high-end headphones that provide immense scale and
vivacious bass without trading-off detail and fidelity.

It’s like finding the perfect partner – supremely intelligent and yet bags of fun at the same time. Sadly,
this is one high-maintenance other half, costing the best part of two
grand. The foam cups will need replacing after a few years too, and cost
another sixty quid. They may not be wholly easy to live with, but you
can’t help who you fall in love with, eh?

500GB iPod touch

The (still ongoing) death of the hard drive MP3 player may have allowed popular players to get thinner and thinner, but it hasn’t been a wholly good thing for hardcore music fans. Quite simply, the
64GB of storage solid state players tend to max out at isn’t enough.
That’s why I’ll never say goodbye to the trusty old iPod Classic.

Unless
old Tim Cook supplies me with an iPod touch packed with an immense
amount of memory, that is. Say 500GB or so. Not too much to ask, is it?
Chunking-out the luverly iPod touch design with a 2.5in hard drive would
make Steve Jobs breakdance in his grave, but storage miniaturisation
could soon make jamming such a level of memory into an 8mm-thick frame
possible.

Just imagine it – being able to fit thousands of
lossless albums, dozens of movies and handfuls of 1GB iOS games into the
same device. Who needs cloud storage when you have the whole lot on
your trusty iPod touch XL MAXX (yes, the name needs some work.) We can
say with confidence that this dream device will never, ever appear – not
in this form at least – but, hey, we can but dream.

CodeMonkey

December 22, 2011, 5:52 pm

"You don't have every piece of media you've ever created digitised and on a NAS?" ---- I do. Gissa Job.

Norbury

December 22, 2011, 6:07 pm

I doubt that the yacht has 100,000 kgs of gold plating. It should only need about 250g to plate something the size of a yacht.

Ed

December 22, 2011, 6:22 pm

I was skeptical too but that's what the site says. Bear in mind, when the company does gold and platinum computers and phones, it doesn't plate them but actually makes the chassis out of solid metal (again so it says). Quite how that doesn't complete destroy their ability to work, I don't know, but clearly there's some sort of market for them. As an example the Platinum 13in MacBook Air weighs 7kg and costs... &#163319,995!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ed

December 22, 2011, 6:28 pm

What was I thinking. &#163319,995 is nothing. How about a Gold, ammolite, TRex bone, and diamond iPad for &#1635,000,000?

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